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ciceroisthefamilycat · 3 years

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My Fiery Heart reread response (my Indigo Spell one here, my first-time Fiery Heart one here from 7.5 years ago)

before I get into it, I remembered looking up the Iolanthe coven name Sydney used; that wasn’t something I looked up until after reading it the first time though, so I didn’t realize the fairy court connection to Sydney recommending Zoe do her literature assignment on Midsummer Night’s Dream... I’m very certain it was an intentional reference to that opera now (even though the purple flower meaning was enough on its own)... if they get around to adapting this one, I half want to see Amberwood Prep put on a production of MND where Jill is helping with the costumes and Zoe gets to play Titania or something; I never got around to reading Richard III (Zoe’s original pick) but it’s interesting that free will/fatalism is apparently a major theme, and that Richard contrived to have his brother Clarence sent to the Tower of London...

also, I’m not sure if I cared about “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane all those years ago, but I got a thrill seeing it referenced this go around.

we get the first namedrop for Cicero (though we had heard about his propensity for killing birds and some other mention in the earlier BL books ETA, 7/19: “My family had a cat back in Utah that I was pretty sure was more responsible than Angeline” pg 31 TGL

Anyway, gosh Sydney makes bad decisions in this one. And it’s not because she has too much to do- she has no real outside strenuous challenges to protecting Jill or her group this go around. The friend group actually had to decide “yeah let’s go hunt down a Strigoi in LA” for there to be a major action scene. I realize she’s in her late teens and the burdens put on her are unfair, but she’s a great example of someone who thrives under pressure and falls apart when she’s given too much free time.

The switch to dual narrators was unnecessary. It wasn’t bad, but it was clearly only to set up for the big cliffhanger at the end, and so feels a bit pointless in this one. Btw, Rose didn’t lose her spirit link into Lissa’s mind after Lissa went on antidepressants. Now admittedly, the chemicals in Adrian’s mood stabilizers would have probably worked differently, or maybe Richelle was trying to retroactively make things more consistent (since alcohol could affect the bond), or maybe it was “Adrian and Jill’s bond is less established, so Jill can’t break through like Rose could”... but the sudden decision mid book (with no repercussions- Adrian doesn’t even bring it up to Sydney to be like “hey, one of your main concerns about having sex is taken care of”) is so pointless and really goes to the minimal page-time of the larger ensemble. I said it the first time I read the book, the absence of Kristin and Julia, and Micah, and even more important characters like Angeline or Trey is so frustrating. I realize Richelle couldn’t write a book that was 900 pages long, but I would have gladly taken any of those characters instead of the completely unnecessary Terwilliger/Malachi romance. Especially to see Jill’s reaction to getting to be a more typical high school human, since I think she would have gotten even more attached to Amberwood than Sydney did. I also just... really, the Alchemists decided to have Sydney’s bio sister on campus... pretending to be a cousin... while she was playing sister to Jill? I get they kind of backed themselves into a corner, but weird. That being said, I was happy to have Rowena and Cassie around. (give me Adrian and Rowena being wlw besties excellence to make me really happy)

Sydney’s coven initiation taking place in chapter 2, then she meets Inez (who gives her the books on charms)... and we never see a witch other than Jackie again in this book? Honestly, why bother with writing the initiation at that rate? I still like the cloak they made Sydney though. On reread, there’s the randomest bit where Trey’s like “is Neil even really British” and I wonder if that was a dropped storyline where Neil was faking. Olive and Nina are still pleasant characters, and I liked that they had a “unique” background, but knowing how those stories end was kind of a buzzkill on reread. Olive, especially, deserved better.

This is another one where I forgot quite a few events- Adrian getting drunk and the pawnshop (I think I remembered that obliquely, but not so much on it), or the trip to Texas (which actually came before the pawnshop but oh well). I was happy to finally get some actual Christian content again, although I regret we didn’t get more from Sydney & Rose or more Sydney & Lissa. On Adrian’s mental health storyline... I am less impressed by it than I was the first time (though I didn’t remember being super-impressed, but according to my first review?). I do actually like Adrian being insistent, once he’s started taking meds, that he’s going to continue, but the diagnosis of bipolar disorder doesn’t actually feel like it fits? I will say, I find Adrian’s “chicken or egg” pondering over whether spirit causes mental illness or mental illness means a predisposition to specializing in spirit is fascinating (though it’s probably for the best Richelle never actually answered it).

The way Adrian spoke (or thought) about Zoe really pissed me off. Like, one, you’re an adult, stop antagonizing the sister of the girl you like and just be cordial (which is less suspicious than suddenly acting like you and Sydney don’t get along at all), and two... Adrian’s super protective over Sydney after realizing the emotional abuse Jared heaped on, but somehow doesn’t realize that this fifteen year old has been spending time with said father’s attention solely focused on her for ages now, and he has no sympathy for her? Instead of seeing Zoe being like “Sydney shouldn’t have to provide for you all the time” and being like “aww, that’s a nice protective sister instinct even if she needs an attitude adjustment” he taunts a 15 year old about drinking from her the way he did to 20-something actual-predator Keith. He could have engaged yet another Sage sister in talking about his awesome car on the drive over, or at least made other good faith efforts.

The dabbling stuff made me more uncomfortable this time around (I think). Especially Sydney comparing her getting Keith’s eye ripped out to Adrian’s assault of a human girl... that was some real false equivalency on Richelle’s part. But other parts of it, like “oh here comes Adrian to save the day and at least he’s changed from these guys he used to hang out with (oh, look at that convenient statement that even back in the day Adrian wasn’t on the same level of bad as them)” was really frustrating, or the fact that Adrian was very deliberately withholding information from her in his own chapters and it made me question his trustworthiness in her chapters. Or the “oh, hey, he made the concession of getting treatment for his mental illness, so all is forgiven” handwaving. Like, Richelle brought this in to be an obstacle to their relationship, but it’s addressed so quickly (with maybe a pittance effort of later being like “oh, at least Adrian didn’t take advantage when Sydney accidentally absorbed some Moroi endorphins- he learned his lessons!) that it doesn’t merit the actual consideration of so important a topic Idk. I do feel like I enjoy the Sydrian relationship more in this book than the others, but I also have some huge issues with it.

Adaptation-wise, I think genderbent Adrian would definitely mean a change to the dabbling storyline (yes, women can be sexual predators, but I don’t think this storyline would be maintained with different social expectations). Honestly, give me an Adrian who, instead of having victimized someone, doesn’t immediately fully grasp how upsetting this idea of vampires preying on her species (and risking exposure) is to Sydney... Adrian being like “it isn’t sexual, those guys would never consider sleeping with a human” but the consent even to give blood still being critical to Sydney. And you know what? Let Lissa “compelled a guy to almost hit himself over the head with a baseball bat for molesting a Feeder” Dragomir have a spirit freak out moment of rage and go off on these subjects of hers the way that was deserved (and then once she cools down, maybe she can’t punish them fully, but she uses it to leverage their royal families’ agreement to the Family Rule amendment). And just finish that law by the end of the season, so that when the Alchemists pull out Sydney and Zoe, they’re actually closing down the whole Palm Springs operation in a rage. (if I remember correctly Alicia kidnapped Jill between books 5 and 6, but that was a stupid plotline imo- let Sydney and her coven take care of Alicia in the downtime of this book instead) Let Rose figure out that Sydney and Adrian are in love- she’s smart and she would pick up on that; let her celebrate them and encourage them to be happy together. Also the “Sydney and Adrian get three days at an inn to sex it all up” was stupid... like I’m happy for them but am I really supposed to buy that they could afford all that time away from Palm Springs?

As bad as I feel for Syd, and Adrian, and Eddie, and Jill, and Jackie at the end of TFH, I do remember that I’m going to feel worst for Hopper. I’m sorry that demon dragon Calistana has my heart and I remember one scene from Silver Shadows featuring the little guy prominently...

#I'm a VA girl

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sydneysageivashkov · 7 years

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Buried With Our Past (4/4)

Sydney and Adrian have had five years of peace, living happily ever after with their adopted son and extended family.

And then a spirit experiment goes very wrong, and Sydney wakes up in Russia, seven years earlier. The Alchemists might think they control her, but Sydney’s got a family to reunite.

Parts 1, 2, 3 | AO3

Jill startled as a tray was dropped on to the table next to her with a large clatter. She looked up to see Eddie sitting down beside her.

“So, you’ve been mysteriously absent from Adrian’s room over the past week,” said Eddie. “And Rose’s. And Lissa’s, and -”

Jill snorted, and Eddie looked very pleased with himself. “I get the picture,” she said. “I haven’t had a fight with Adrian or anything. It’s just…” She paused, then nodded in the direction of the table where Rose, Lissa and Christian were eating with Avery. “Avery Lazar’s a spirit user. She almost got Lissa killed last time. We have a plan to deal with her, but we still need to wait a bit to get all the supplies.”

“So you’re – what? Back up?” asked Eddie. Jill stole one of his fries and he whacked at her hand with the flat of his knife. She grinned up at him, and it felt so achingly like it used to that she could have kissed him.

“Yeah,” she said instead, because kissing him would definitely go against the relationship spoilers rule. “I can use the bond to tell if Adrian’s being compelled, and since I’m not hanging out with them, Avery doesn’t know to compel me.”

“It’s a good plan,” said Eddie, nodding to himself. “And you’ve definitely got a way to stop her?”

“Not definitely, but I trust Sydney to come through for us,” said Jill. “She’s never let us down before.”

“So will we finally get to meet the mysterious Sydney?” asked Eddie. “I mean, Rose has met her, and I know she’s a human, but somehow you’ve all been pretty elusive about her.”

Jill smiled sadly. “It’s not just romantic relationships that fall under the spoilers rule, you know.”

“You know that Rose has been trying to work out your future ever since you guys came back? She’s got, like, the cork board with all these dates and names pinned to it like in a detective movie,” said Eddie. “Some of her theories sounds pretty reasonable. Other stuff seems like reaching.”

Jill laughed. She hadn’t know, but knowing Rose, it wasn’t a surprise, either. “I hope you’re not using this as a way to get spoilers out of me.”

“I would never,” said Eddie, trying to look indignant.

They sat silently for a few minutes. Jill watched over her friends with Avery as subtly as she could, and she could tell that Eddie was doing the same. Well, doing much better at it, to be honest. Guardians were actually trained in surveillance.

“With Rose’s cork board,” said Eddie at last, “she has this one theory.” He turned to look at her. Jill looked down at her food. “About you and me.”

Jill looked back up. “You know I can’t say either way.”

“Look, I know why you and Adrian decided not to say anything. I get your reasoning,” said Eddie. “But it’s pretty obvious to everyone that Lissa and Christian stayed together in your future, and that hasn’t affected them at all. If anything, it’s made them more sickeningly sweet than ever.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Jill.

“Well, I’ve already worked out that we were together in the future,” said Eddie. “And we worked, right?” Jill nodded, hesitantly, and he continued. “So I was wondering if we should just – try. I know I’m not the Eddie you had a few months ago, but I wasn’t really expecting to be in a relationship with a long-lost Dragomir princess, so I figure we’re kind of even there.” Jill couldn’t help a giggle bubbling out, and Eddie smiled at her. “If it works, then we’ve got a few extra years we didn’t have in your future.”

Jill sat for a moment, wondering. Eddie was right. If he knew about their future relationship, then the development of their relationship had already been disrupted, not to mention the fact that she was a different Jill to the one he had initially fallen in love with in her timeline.

But what if she lost him? What if Eddie wasn’t ready yet, and this ended badly, and she lost him forever? She wasn’t sure if she could bear it.

Eddie was looking at her, as firm and steadfast as he always was. Slowly, she leant forwards and kissed him on the cheek. “I’d like that.”

Sydney tapped at the table anxiously at the table as she waited for Mrs Terwilliger to pick up her phone. It was the Amberwood lunch hour, so Mrs Terwilliger should be available. Sydney, meanwhile, didn’t have nearly so much free time. She had managed to get away from the rest of their family by claiming she was going for a coffee run, but it would only be matter of time before someone started wondering why she was taking so long. Abruptly, the ringing cut off as the line picked up.

“Jaclyn Terwilliger speaking,” said the voice at the other end. Sydney’s heart ached at the sound of her old teacher’s voice.

“Mrs Terwilliger, my name is Sydney Sage, and I need some advice on spells relating to vampire magic,” said Sydney, trying to make herself sound as professional as possible.

“I’m sorry?” said Mrs Terwilliger.

“I was wondering if you knew of any spells that could prevent a vampire from using their magic,” explained Sydney. “I know there are spells that can prevent a vampire from wielding their magic on oneself, but I wanted to know if there are any ways to cut off the magic at its source, as it were.”

“That’s not what I meant,” said Mrs Terwilliger. “I quite understood your inquiry. I would rather know who you are and how you came by my number.” Her voice was sharp. Sydney just barely kept herself from sighing.

“My name is Sydney Sage,” she repeated. “As for how I got your number, I had a magical accident and ended up seven years in the past. I know your number because you gave it to me a few months from now.” There was silence on the other end. Sydney continued, a tinge of desperation entering her voice, “You have six cats. You work at Amberwood Prep as a history teacher, and you have a boy named Trey Juarez in your class, who’s brighter than he lets on a lot of the time. You’re a part of the Stelle, and so was your sister before she became too interested in dark magic and you drove her off.”

There was so much more she knew about Mrs Terwilliger that she could mention. Mrs Terwilliger had been one of the great shaping influences of Sydney’s life. “I should hope that your beliefs are your beliefs,” she had once told Sydney, and it had taken a long time, and a lot of work with her and Adrian and everyone else Sydney loved for that to become true.

But Mrs Terwilliger cut her off. “You’re telling the truth,” she said slowly. “I wasn’t aware of any spells that could cause time travel.”

Sydney winced. “It wasn’t exactly human magic.”

There was a pause on the other end. “I imagine this is why you would like to cut off a vampire’s magic? To prevent this from happening again?”

“No, actually,” said Sydney. “I trust the person who did it. It’s for a rogue spirit user.” She explained the situation with Avery Lazar briefly.

“I’m not certain of any such spells,” said Mrs Terwilliger, when Sydney finished. “I will do my research tonight. I can email you any spells I find,” she offered.

“No!” exclaimed Sydney. “No,” she repeated, more calmly. “I can’t – well, I just can’t have any evidence of my magic available. Call me back and I’ll write the spell down.”

“If you’re certain,” said Mrs Terwilliger. “Are you safe, Miss Sage? Do you need help?”

“I’m as safe as I can be,” said Sydney. “I’ll be able to get out of here soon. Only a few more days,” she finished, largely to herself.

There was the familiar sound of the Amberwood bell on the other end of the phone. “Unfortunately, duty calls,” said Mrs Terwilliger, sounding genuinely disappointed to cut the call short. Sydney wasn’t surprised. This was probably the most interesting and confounding thing that had happened to Mrs Terwilliger in a long time.

“It’s fine, Mrs Terwilliger,” she said, and hesitated. “Keep an eye out for Trey, please? His family is… bad, and I don’t think I’ll be in a position to help him this time around.”

“I will do my best,” said Mrs Terwilliger. “I’ll let you know my findings as soon as I can.”

“Soooo,” said a voice behind Adrian, and he almost groaned. He turned to face Avery Lazar, who was watching him with one hand on her waist and her hip popped out. “I always heard that Adrian Ivashkov was the life of every party. What happened, man?”

Adrian could feel the tingle of compulsion, the will that was not his own pushing him towards parties. He pushed back at it with spirit. Avery’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She’d been like this since the start, but seemed to have put Adrian’s and Lissa’s resistance down to their spirit use and had taken it as a challenge.

It was especially awful, because without the compulsion and trying-to-kill-innocent-people thing, Avery Lazar was just the kind of person who would have been up twenty-one-year-old Adrian’s alley. She wouldn’t necessarily have been a good influence on him, but he would have liked her genuinely, without the compulsion. But in her quest for power, she’d left behind everything that could make her a likable person and replaced it with compulsion.

“Unfortunately,” said Adrian, drawing the word out, “I’ve got to be a role model to Lissa. Aunt Tatiana wants me to be the ‘positive counterbalance’ to Christian.”

Avery laughed, clear and bright. Adrian tried not to grit his teeth. “Man, how’d you convince her you’re a good influence?”

“No idea,” said Adrian. “Half the school still thinks I’m dating Rose.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard that,” said Avery. Her grin was all teeth. “Heard some sophomores saying you two had eloped.”

“I do love Vegas,” said Adrian, which was probably the only honest thing he was going to say for the entire conversation. Vegas held some fond memories: Sydney looking beautiful in her dress, bouquet in hands, rings on her fingers. “But alas, elopement is not on the cards for Rose and I.” After all, he was happily married (ironically, because of an elopement), and she was hopelessly in love with a Russian warlord, who was either dead or an undead mobster. You know, normal relationship obstacles.

“She doesn’t seem to like me that much,” noted Avery. Adrian only just managed to bite back a comment about how nobody there liked her.

“Rose is very possessive of what she considers hers,” explained Adrian, because it was a better reason than any of the real ones.

“So she does like you?” asked Avery, cocking her head. Adrian wondered if she was now planning how best to get rid of Rose.

“She’s more possessive of Lissa than of me,” said Adrian. “They’ve been best friends since they were kids, and Rose is in line to be her guardian.” Honestly, that wouldn’t extend Rose’s life expectancy in Avery’s mind, but he had faith in Rose’s abilities to punch her way out of any situation.

“Yeah, aren’t they bonded?” asked Avery. “Like in the stories?” Avery was very good at faking curiousity: she had cocked her head ever so slightly and widened her eyes a little. Adrian nodded and she sighed longingly. “I wish I could have that. Simon’s okay, but it’d be pretty great to have my best friend as my bonded guardian.”

Unbelievable. She was effectively saying that her brother and guardian just weren’t good enough. Rose and Lissa were still finding a way to balance out the bond so that Lissa had her privacy and they both had their sanity. Adrian and Jill had spent a long time working out how to maintain their privacy and keep Adrian’s vices from affecting Jill. Most of the time, they didn’t even bother trying to balance out the bond; they just blocked it with medication. If Avery actually cared about either of her bondmates, she would know all of that, and wouldn’t be making that comment, even as a cover.

“Yeah, well, it’s not all of a bed of roses,” said Adrian, trying to keep the edge out of his voice.

“I see what you did there,” said Avery with a smirk. Adrian blinked. He hadn’t even noticed. “Come on, let’s go find Lissa and see if we can spring her from her disapproving keeper.”

“Sorry, I can’t,” said Adrian, pushing back against the compulsion. “Got a – thing. Got a thing. And Lissa’s got an exam coming up, so she won’t do anything either.”

Avery frowned minutely before it was wiped away by an easy smile. “All good. Let me know when you’re finally willing to let loose,” she said, with a flirty flip of her hair and a quick pulse of compulsion.

Not likely. “Will do.”

The house was silent. It was close to one in the morning, and the rest of Sydney’s family was sleeping. She slid out of her bed, casting a spell to keep her movements silent.

Her father’s office was well-organised and when it came to most subjects, it was simple to find the relevant files. Sydney knew that her task wouldn’t be so easy.

She closed the door behind her before she turned the computer on. She turned the brightness down to its lowest possible setting to be safe. She started clicking through all the folders that seemed like they would usually be considered irrelevant.

It took forty minutes, located on a hard drive that she found hidden behind the book shelf, amidst a folder filled with bureaucratic but Proper Alchemist things. Sydney guessed that her father was banking on anyone searching through the hard drive to dismiss it after only a few of the bureaucratic files. But there it was: evidence of her father’s illegal smuggling of vampire blood and saliva to the Warriors of the Light. There was even enough mentions of all his co-conspirators to bring them down with him. There was evidence of monetary transactions, of the Moroi that they were taking blood from (Sydney’s heart ached when she saw Clarence’s name amongst them), and interaction with the Warriors. It was enough.

She set about printing paper copies of the files. Sydney would take the hard drive with her, too, but it wouldn’t hurt to have physical copies in addition to the digital files. She felt tears pricking at her eyes. After a month and a half of living under the Alchemists’ thumb once more, she was so, so close to freedom.

“Sydney?”

Sydney whirled around to see her father standing in the doorway. He was staring at her, face uncomprehending but suspicious. “What are you doing?”

Sydney decided to go on the offensive. “What are you doing?” she demanded, brandishing some of the printed pages at him. “You’re selling vampire blood! That goes against everything the Alchemists stand for!”

Jared narrowed his eyes at her and stepped forwards. “How did you know about this?” Sydney opened her mouth to deny it, but he pushed on. “It’s after midnight. You crept in here after we were all asleep. You didn’t just stumble on it. You came looking for it.”

Sydney set her jaw. “I did know about it,” she said. She stepped forward, glaring at her father. “A month and a half ago, I woke up in the past. I woke up living under the Alchemists with no way out. But I knew I just had to get back here and get evidence of your dealings and I could use that to go free.”

“Woke up in the past?” repeated Jared, and scoffed. “Impossible.”

“Possible, with the help of magic,” said Sydney forcefully. “That’s right. Magic. Spirit magic, to be precise. This is how it’s going to work, Dad,” she said, almost spitting out the last word. “I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning. I’m going to say goodbye to Mum and Carly and Zoe – not forever, just until the next time I see them, because I will see them again. I’m going to disappear from the Alchemists radar, and you are going to keep me off the Alchemists’ radar, or I’ll bust you and all my friends.” She smirked bitterly at him. “We’ll both go to re-education, but I guarantee that I can escape re-education. Can you say the same?”

“No one can escape re-education,” said Jared. “You’re putting yourself on the path there, though, with this casual talk of Moroi magic and threatening a direct superior.”

That’s how he saw himself: as a direct superior. Not her father – a superior. It summed up Jared Sage pretty well.

“I can escape re-education. I’ve done it before,” she said, and smirked as her father’s eyes widened. “Thank you, though, for the worst four months of my life. I never got the chance to say that in the other timeline. You really won Father of the Year award that year.”

“Whatever I did, I would have done to save your soul,” said Jared, loftily.

“Save my soul? Do you know what they do in re-education?” she demanded. Angry tears stung at her eyes, and she balled her fists, willing them back. If she cried, he would dismiss her as an overly-emotional teenage girl. She wasn’t a girl, though. She was a woman grown who hadn’t needed her father in years, a woman who finally understood the many ways Jared Sage had failed her.

She was a mother, and she couldn’t understand how any parent could do to their child what her father had done to her.

“First they keep you in darkness for days,” she continued. “No food. No clothes. Just a voice talking at you about how you sinned. And when you finally pass that stage – and that took me three weeks – you move on to the actual ‘re-education’.” She took a step forward. “It’s all propaganda. If you talk back, if you point out the flaws in their logic, if you do anything but parrot back the Alchemist party line, you get sent away. They make you sick for hours. They turn everyone in there – all of the victims – against each other and encourage them to report infractions so that you have no support system. And that’s only for the minor things. If you talk back too much, they send you for re-inking, and you come back a zombie.”

“Better that than allowing you to stray from the light,” said Jared. His tone was full of self-righteousness and Sydney wanted to scream.

“The light? You raised me to follow orders no matter the morality behind them. You taught me not to think for myself; to let the Alchemists think for me. Every time the tattoo gets touched up, you get compelled to follow their orders. It’s disgusting,” snarled Sydney. “They take away our agency without a second thought. At least the Moroi see compulsion as a taboo! You talk as if they’re evil creatures of the night but at least they respect my free will!”

Her voice had risen to a shout. In the hallway, behind Jared, she could see her sisters’ heads peeking out from their rooms, and at the end was her mother, staring in horror.

“That’s not even going into how awful you are as a father,” she continued. “Your comments caused me to have an eating disorder for years so I could be as thin as a Moroi. Guess what, Dad? I’m not a Moroi. I’m human! You brought Keith Darnell into our house and -” She broke off, seeing Carly’s eyes widen and her head shake. Sydney reigned in her fury. If Carly didn’t want what he did known, then Sydney wouldn’t betray her because she was angry. “- And you loved him more than you ever did us. You’d happily send me to re-education, to have everything that makes me me dug out and replaced by Alchemist propaganda.

“I’m done with you, and I’m done with the Alchemists,” said Sydney, voice deadly quiet. “I have enough information to put you through everything I just described. You keep me off their radar, I won’t give them what I know. You keep Zoe and Carly out, and I won’t give them what I know. Do we understand each other?”

Jared was staring at her. She met his eyes with a steady gaze. She would not be backing down. She would not blink first.

At last, Jared nodded. “Understood.”

The Academy’s van was crowded. Adrian wasn’t entirely sure how Lissa had convinced the new headmaster and Alberta that she had to go to Missoula on such short notice, and that Adrian, Christian, Jill, and Eddie all had to be part of the group, but she’d managed it somehow. He suspected that mild compulsion may have been involved.

“Is everything ready?” asked Rose in an undertone, sliding in next to Adrian.

Adrian nodded. “Sydney’s going to meet us there. Just find a way to get us away from the guardians and we’ll be fine.” He was so, so close to seeing Sydney again.

Rose nodded. “That, I can do.”

“Rose,” he said, and faltered. She looked at him steadily. “Thank you for getting Sydney home early.”

Rose softened, some of the hardened guardian persona giving way to his friend. “It was the least I could do,” she replied. “You, Jill, Sydney – you always seem really sad. If getting Sydney back to the US and out of danger a little sooner could help, then there wasn’t much of a choice.”

He spent most of the drive sitting in silence. His thoughts were ahead, with the woman that was waiting for them in Missoula. There had been phone calls, and even a few dream visits when he had managed to convince her that he wasn’t using too much spirit. But this was going to be real.

The only one who had any idea of exactly what he was feeling was Jill, but she was seated in the row behind him, talking quietly with Eddie. He hoped that everything worked out there. Jill and Eddie had been a good match in the last timeline, and he couldn’t see why they wouldn’t be now.

Since Rose and Eddie were both the same age as the rest of the teenagers, they were quickly placed on near guard duty by the other guardians. It was convenient, as they were the only ones amongst the guardians who knew the true reasons behind the trip, and it would be harder to slip near guards than far guards. Adrian followed the others into a store, and as if on an unspoken cue, Christian immediately started talking to Avery loudly and Lissa used the distraction to slip something into Adrian’s hand. She flashed him a quick wink before she went to join her boyfriend and Avery.

“Get Sydney. We’ll meet you downstairs,” said Rose, under her breath, before she also left. Adrian opened his hand to find a silver ring. He could sense a notice-me-not compulsion on it and he slipped it on, hurrying out of the store.

He found Sydney in the bookstore. She hadn’t noticed him yet. She was reading the blurb of a thick book with a photo of the Colosseum on the front, her eyebrows knit together as she concentrated. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Sydney looked up, eyes flicking around nervously, as if she had realised she was being watched. Her eyes landed on him, and her mouth opened a little. She placed the book back on the shelf and approached.

Her hand rested on his cheek, trembling a little. Her eyes were shining with tears. “You’re here,” she whispered. “You’re really here.”

He pulled her into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder, and her chest shook under his hands. “In the flesh, Sage,” he said. “I’m not leaving you ever again.”

She smiled, a few, stray tears running down her face. “I’m pretty sure that would be physically impossible.”

“Nope,” he said. “Screw physics. I’m not going anywhere.” She laughed, the sound bubbling out of her almost hysterically.

“We’re free,” she said, like she couldn’t quite believe it. “I almost forgot what it was like.”

He leant down and kissed her, softly. Her lips felt warm and familiar under his, the way she wound one hand through his hair. He had missed this, missed her, like a missing limb. It felt like coming home.

She pulled away and rested her forehead against his. “Where are the others?” she asked.

Sydney Sage-Ivashkov: always on track, even in a situation like this. “Downstairs, in the carpark,” he said. “They should be slipping the guardians as we speak.”

She took another deep breath. “We should go to them,” she said regretfully, pulling away.

Adrian sighed. “You’re right, as always.” She took his hand and smiled.

“As always.”

The carpark was still empty when they arrived, so they leant against the Academy’s van and talked about the past two months.

“So I yelled at him about awful he and the Alchemists are, and blackmailed him into letting me go,” finished Sydney. She grinned up at him, and Adrian felt his breath hitch. “We’re free.”

Adrian leant down to kiss her, but before he could, the doors opened and the others spilled out. Avery looked confused, but not worried. That would probably change soon.

“You guys here?” called Rose, looking round the carpark. Sydney pushed herself off the van and tugged Adrian behind her, stepping out into view. Jill broke out of the group and ran towards them. Sydney let go of Adrian’s hand to meet Jill halfway. The two crashed into each other and clung on, crying and laughing.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Jill said, so quietly Adrian almost didn’t catch it. “I’m missed you so much.”

Sydney was crying. “I missed you, too, Jill.”

“What’s going on?” asked Avery. She looked suspicious, like she had finally caught on to the fact that she was missing something big.

Sydney let go of Jill and dug through her handbag. She pulled out a package wrapped in plain, white cloth. “I’m guessing that’s Avery?” she asked Jill, who nodded.

“Who are you?” demanded Avery.

Sydney held the package up. “I’m Sydney Ivashkov. I hear you’ve been moving in on my husband,” she said. Avery gaped, and Sydney started chanting. Adrian didn’t understand it, but he’d been around Sydney long enough to recognise Latin when he heard it.

Avery, who apparently was also capable of recognising threatening Latin chanting when she heard it, tried to back up, but Rose grabbed hold of her and held her in place.

“I’ve got her, Sydney,” she said. Sydney flashed her a grin as she finished the chanting, as she unwrapped the package. The mixture inside lifted itself up and floated to Avery, showering over her.

Besides Lissa, Adrian was the only person in the group who could see exactly what was happening. Avery’s aura shimmered, cycling through all the colours of the rainbow. The gold that Avery had been hiding burst into view, as did the dark shadows that Adrian usually associated with Rose. Even two bondmates apparently could not keep up with the amount of spirit darkness. The rainbow that had been flowing through Avery’s aura suddenly coalesced into a solid barrier around her aura.

“It’s done,” he confirmed to the others.

“Let go of me,” snarled Avery. Adrian could see the spirit welling up in her aura, could see her trying to force her will on to the others, but it hit the rainbow barrier and rebounded inwards. Avery’s eyes widened, panic setting in. “What have you done to me?”

“Ensured that you aren’t going to hurt anybody ever again,” said Lissa, stepping forwards.

“Moroi magic is intrinsic,” explained Sydney. “I can’t stop you from using it entirely. But I could create a barrier between you and other people.” Avery glowered at her.

And then the door burst open. Avery’s guardian, Simon, came marching through.

“I thought she was meant to be cut off from everyone else!” exclaimed Jill. Rose and Eddie were already walking forward to engage Simon.

“This spell was designed to cut Strigoi off from compulsion. It’s never been used on someone with a bond before,” said Sydney. “I guess we shouldn’t be surprised there were side effects.”

Rose and Eddie had reached Simon. Simon swung a fist at Rose, which she dodged and caught his hand. “Trying to attack Moroi,” mocked Rose, tutting. “That’s not very guardian-like.” Simon grunted and pulled his hand from Rose’s grip, just in time to block an attack from Eddie.

Rose and Eddie were making ground on Simon when Rose blanched, face growing pale. Eddie glanced over at Rose, worried, giving Simon an opportunity to land a solid hit on Eddie that left Eddie staggering. Simon began to walk towards them again.

The doors opened, and Adrian saw the Academy’s guardians enter the car park, Alberta at their hand. They took in the situation in a few seconds, and went after Simon.

But Rose beat them to it. She swung a leg around, knocking Simon’s out from under him. He fell and she followed him to the ground, holding him down. “You aren’t ever going to hurt Lissa,” she hissed at him.

Alberta reached the two and Rose handed Simon over to her. “We have to get out of here,” she said. “Right now. They’re coming.”

Adrian would have asked who ‘they’ were, but there was only one reason Rose would have stumbled in that fight, only one reason she would be as pale as she was. Alberta, however, didn’t know about Rose’s early warning system and stopped to ask what she meant.

Honestly, even if Alberta had given orders to evacuate immediately, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. They would have had a few extra seconds at most. Because as soon as Alberta had finished asking, a cold voice spoke up behind Adrian, all the more chilling for its familiarity.

“Hello, Roza.”

Sydney had seen Strigoi before. She had even felt Strigoi fangs at her throat, certain she was about to die. Seeing a Strigoi she knew shouldn’t have made so much of a difference.

Dimitri’s skin was deathly pale, looking chalky under his dark brown hair. The red in his eyes made her want to throw up.

Once, she had stood beside him and listened as he pretended to be a Strigoi. That, in itself, had been awful. But seeing the real deal? It was unimaginably worse. She could barely imagine how Rose must have felt, the first time she saw him.

“I told you I’d come for you when you stepped outside the Academy’s gates,” said Dimitri. Rose pushed her way past the other guardians, placing herself between Dimitri and all of the Moroi. “And yet, here you are.”

Rose looked him in the eye, and then punched him in the face. It was enough to spur everyone into action: the guardians moved forwards, engaging the three Strigoi that Dimitri had brought with him.

Sydney grabbed Christian’s arm. “We need to subdue him before someone kills him,” she said. “I’m going to throw a fireball at him. Make it surround him, okay?” Christian nodded, and she summoned the flame to her hand. She kept it in a small, tight ball, and threw it at Dimitri’s feet, careful to avoid Rose. Both of them startled as the flames grew rapidly into an inferno, and suddenly Eddie was there, dragging Rose back. Christian waved his hand, and the fire surrounded Dimitri.

“Cover me!” shouted Lissa, drawing a stake from her bag. She didn’t look at all capable of taking on a Strigoi, let alone Dimitri, but the look in her eyes was determined.

Rose and Eddie fell back to Lissa’s side, guarding her against any Strigoi. Dimitri seemed too distracted by the flames to even notice the princess approaching, until she had grasped the stake with both hands and plunged it into his chest.

Well, sort of. The stake didn’t go the entire way in. Lissa gritted her teeth and threw her entire weight behind the stake, inching it in a little further. Dimitri struggling against the stake and the flames made her job that much harder.

Sydney knew when Lissa succeeded because the room flooded with light. She felt the spirit magic flow, the feeling of life and love and laughter bursting outwards. Sydney had seen a Strigoi be restored once before. Dimitri’s restoration was no less beautiful than Sonya’s had been.

As the light receded, Sydney had to blink several times in order to see again. Dimitri was on the ground, his head in Lissa’s lap, Rose holding his hand like it was a life line. And Dimitri was weeping.

Strigoi and guardians, however, were hard to distract. A miracle had just taken place, but the fighting restarted quickly enough. One Strigoi was staked, then a second. Eddie staked the third as he tried to approach his former boss.

“What just happened?” asked one guardian. From what Sydney could tell, she appeared to be the leader of the guardians. She went to approach Dimitri, Rose and Lissa, but Jill threw herself between them.

“He’s a dhampir!” exclaimed Jill. “Lissa turned D – Guardian Belikov back into a dhampir.”

“It’s true,” said Adrian, joining her. “I felt the spirit Lissa was wielding. It worked. Belikov’s a dhampir.”

“That’s impossible,” scoffed another guardian.

“I can run some tests,” Sydney offered, slipping back into her role of professional Alchemist.

The leader focused on her. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“That’s not important,” said Adrian, immediately. From the way the guardian’s face slackened a little, Sydney could tell that Adrian had used some mild compulsion on her. “What is important, Guardian Petrov, is that a miracle just happened. Lissa just restored a Strigoi to life. Spirit can save people from being a Strigoi! Imagine what could be done with this.”

“If you can prove he really is a dhampir,” said Guardian Petrov. She glanced at Dimitri, hope entering her expression.

“Take him back to the Academy,” said Christian. “If he gets through the wards, then he’s not a Strigoi, right?”

“Right,” said Adrian. “There’s your proof.”

“We can’t take him back to the Academy!” exclaimed one guardian, horrified. “There are children there.”

“He’s harmless!” snapped Adrian. “Well, as harmless as a trained guardian can be. There’s no Strigoi left.”

Guardian Petrov looked at Dimitri again. Sydney wasn’t sure if he, Lissa or Rose had heard any part of the conversation that was going on above them. Rose and Lissa were murmuring to Dimitri in soothing tones, their words too quiet to make out.

“We’ll take him back to Saint Vladimir’s,” she decided. “There are cells we can hold him in until we decide if he’s safe.” She looked at another guardian. “Call the school. Send back up. We can’t transport him with the students.”

Adrian slid away from the ensuing conversation and came to stand before her. “I should go back with them until we can convince them that Dimitri’s a dhampir.”

Sydney nodded. “I know. They need you.”

It wasn’t safe to kiss, not with so many unknown quantities around, but Adrian risked placing a hand on her cheek. “I’ll come for you as soon as I can,” he promised.

Jill approached. Her hand was twined with Eddie’s, but she let go to throw her arms around Sydney. “It’s not fair that you have to leave again so soon,” said Jill into Sydney’s hair.

“It’ll be fine soon enough, Jill,” said Sydney, brushing Jill’s hair down. She squeezed Jill once and let go to look at Eddie.

“Did you come back, too?” she asked, uncertainly. Jill and Adrian hadn’t mentioned it, and surely Eddie would have wanted to speak with her before now. But he and Jill had been holding hands…

“No,” said Eddie, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry. I know we were close in your future.”

“I’m going to hug you anyway,” Sydney decided.

“I’m always up for a hug,” agreed Eddie. Sydney wrapped her arms around Eddie and leant her head against his shoulder. Eddie was the closest thing she had ever had to a brother, and she had missed him desperately.

But time was running short, so she let go of Eddie to look back to Adrian. “I love you,” she whispered, blinking back tears.

“I love you, too,” said Adrian. She took his hand and stared at him, drinking him in for as long as she dared.

The arguments were dying down, though, and she reluctantly pulled away, walking away before anyone could notice her.

News of a restored Strigoi spread throughout the Moroi world in a matter of days.

Two days after Dimitri was restored, three high-ranking guardians and another two magical researchers arrived at Saint Vladimir’s to investigate. With them, came the queen.

“You told me this would happen,” she told Adrian, quietly. “I did not fully believe you until the news came.”

“What do people think back at court?” he asked. “A lot of people were convinced it was a trick last time.”

“It’s the same now,” said Aunt Tatiana. She looked very tired. “Others believe it. They think of Vasilisa as some kind of goddess: the princess from a dying family, working miracles that could save our species.”

“They’re not wrong,” said Adrian. “We were getting lose to finding a vaccine last time. If we ever succeed, then it’s only a matter of time before the Strigoi die out.”

Tatiana stood and looked at her stone-faced guardian. “Take us to Belikov,” she ordered.

Dimitri wasn’t in the Academy’s holding cells at that moment. It was early in the Moroi night, or early morning for the human world. The sun had risen only an hour ago, and he was sitting at a picnic table near the guardians’ quarters. Lissa sat on one side of him and Rose on the other, with half a dozen of the school’s guardians watching him intently.

Adrian still wasn’t sure what had happened in Russia, either time, but evidently Rose had changed enough that Dimitri was not as violently opposed to seeing her as he had been last time round. Adrian had barely seen Rose or Lissa since they had returned from Missoula. Any free time they had had been spent fighting to convince others that Dimitri was no longer a Strigoi and to get him released from custody.

Tatiana swept towards the three, and several guardians followed her. Adrian rolled his eyes at them as he and Aunt Tatiana sat down across the table from the princess and guardians. Somehow, Tatiana was capable of making even the picnic table look like a throne. Lissa and Dimitri both bowed their heads.

“You’re not here to yell at me again, are you?” asked Rose, looking at Tatiana dubiously. After a belated paused, she added, “Uh, Your Majesty.”

“Rose!” admonished Lissa and Dimitri in unison. Rose ducked her head but Adrian spotted the smile as she did so. She had probably been playing dumb on purpose, he thought – trying to break the tension.

“Indeed not, Miss Hathaway,” said Tatiana, not even bothering to conceal her amusement. “I came to talk to Mr Belikov. If you have been truly restored, then it could change our entire world, so I wished to make my own judgements.” Rose bristled a little at Dimitri being addressed as ‘Mr Belikov’ rather than as ‘Guardian Belikov’, but was quelled by a sharp look from Lissa.

Dimitri bowed his head. “I am at your command, Your Majesty.”

“Then we shall begin,” said Tatiana, and started her interrogation.

It took another three weeks for Adrian to meet Sydney at their decided place in Maine.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked her. He didn’t think he was.

“I don’t think we can start living our life together unless we do this,” she replied. “We need to put the other timeline to rest.”

He nodded and pulled her into a hug. She clung on to him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. They stood for several long moments before she let go.

“Here,” said Sydney, handing him a charmed necklace. She put one on herself and spoke a few words in Latin. The spell was meant to turn them invisible to anyone who didn’t know they were there. He had a lot of faith in Sydney’s abilities, but it was a little nerve-wracking when he couldn’t actually see if the spell had worked or not.

Their old house was still being lived in by the people they had bought it off, so they made their way through to the back garden as silently as they could. There was a large tree in the corner of the yard. It didn’t have the tree house that it’d had in their time, but it was the only place they thought of as Declan’s that they could get to.

Sydney knelt at the foot of the tree and placed her hand on it. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love how you’d say that every movie that wasn’t animated was boring, I love how you still hadn’t gotten your tongue around ‘Ivashkov’, I love how -” Her voice cracked. Adrian knelt beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath, wiping away a tear. “I love how you always want a cuddle and insist on a story before bed.” She stopped again, crying in earnest now. Adrian wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I don’t know if you’ll ever exist in this timeline,” he said to the tree, to the life they had once built, to Declan, “but I’m always going to love you. You will always be my first child, no matter what happens in this life.”

Sydney was still sniffling when she took the small plant of rosemary from her bag. She made a shallow depression in the earth with her hands and placed the rosemary in it, pushing the dirt back into place. “For remembrance,” she said. “You’ll always be in our hearts.”

Adrian placed his hand on the rosemary plant, feeling the spirit surge through him. The plant grew in size, purple flowers blooming on it.

“Goodbye, Declan,” he said. Sydney ran her hands along the plant before she let Adrian pull her to her feet.

They returned to the car. Sydney pulled away from the curb and they drove in silence.

“Do you think it ever gets easier?” she asked, at last.

“I don’t know, Sage,” he said, honestly. “But at least we aren’t dealing with it alone anymore.”

Sydney opened the door to find a crowd of faces peering back at her. Their friends had turned out in force for Sydney and Adrian’s second (primarily for legal reasons, because they had never stopped considering themselves married) wedding. Rose grinned gleefully and pulled Sydney into a hug. Most of the others streamed past, greeting Sydney as they went – so far in this timeline, they largely knew Adrian rather than Sydney. She received a quick hug from Eddie as he passed. Only Jill remained on their doorstep, talking into her phone.

“Yes, I know I snuck out of Court – yes, I had a very good reason, and I have Eddie and Rose and Dimitri with me, what do you think is going to happen? – Mum, I am actually twenty-one, remember, I can make my own decisions,” Jill was saying. Sydney tried not to laugh at Jill, who barely looked her biological age of fifteen years. Jill looked up and smiled brilliantly at Sydney. “Gotta go! Sorry,” she said into her phone, then hung up before her mother could argue.

“You snuck out of Court?” inquired Sydney, nodding at the phone Jill was putting in her pocket.

“Do you really think anyone would have let me out?” asked Jill. “Especially my mother! She keeps forgetting that I’m not fourteen.”

“You certainly look the part,” teased Sydney, and Jill laughed, throwing her arms around Sydney.

“I’m so glad I get to be part of this one!” exclaimed Jill. “I was still stranded in Amberwood last time.”

“No Alchemists hunting us this time, so it definitely passes the bar the other timeline set,” said Sydney. “And I’ve got everyone here this time.”

Jill followed Sydney into the main part of the house. Adrian and Sydney had ended up where it had begun for them: they were living on the outskirts of Palm Springs. There was little to no chance of Strigoi attacks, and only one Alchemist to be worried about, and Sydney had more than enough blackmail on Keith.

Sydney’s sisters and mother were sitting on the couch in the living room, looking mildly shell-shocked by the deluge of dhampirs and Moroi who had entered. They were tentatively beginning to accept Adrian, but this was something else. Adrian pulled out of Lissa’s hug, grinning around the room. Sydney’s heart seemed too big for her chest. Almost everyone she loved was in this room.

“Mrs Terwilliger’s here!” said Jill, voice surprised. Sydney glanced at where Mrs Terwilliger was sitting on the love seat, peering at the newcomers like they were science experiments.

“I met up with her when we moved here,” explained Sydney. “I’m spending a lot of time at Spencer’s and I’ve been slowly but steadily befriending Trey. I’m still working on a way to get Angeline out of the Keepers, but I’ll get there eventually.”

“I have no doubt,” said Jill. Eddie reappeared at Jill’s side, sliding an arm around her waist. Sydney smiled. She was glad that they were working out in spite of the time travel shenanigans.

“I hope you’re treating Jill well, Castile,” she said, with mock sternness.

Jill rolled her eyes. “No. You’re not allowed to threaten him. This isn’t how the Melrose family works!”

Eddie looked bewildered. “Melrose family…?”

Adrian approached, kissing Sydney quickly on her forehead. “I believe I heard something about a Melrose family reunion?” he asked, looking at Jill.

Jill snorted. “Oh, man, there’s a lot of fake family incest going on in this house,” she said with a grin. “Imagine if Micah or someone had caught one of us!”

Eddie still looked lost, so Sydney took pity on him. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my sisters,” she said to him. “You’re pretty much the most normal person here. We’ll ease them into this.”

“Hey, I’m normal!” objected Jill.

“You’re a magic-wielding, time-travelling, long lost princess of a dying line,” deadpanned Adrian. “You’re practically a comic book character.” Jill frowned, but shrugged acceptingly.

“Be nice,” chided Sydney, even as she felt a smile tugging at her lips.

“Always am,” said Adrian, leaning down to kiss Sydney quickly. Rose wolf-whistled loudly across the room, and Dimitri tried to shush her without avail.

It wasn’t where she had expected to be six months ago. It wasn’t the house she had wanted or the life she had built, and the child she had raised was gone. But standing in this room, with so many of her loved ones surrounding her, Sydney was pretty sure there were worse lives she could have lived.

#sydrian #bloodlines #vampire academy #fic #ff.net is playing up ughh #now that this monster is done I can move on to gremma appreciation stuff!#also uni work

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